Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What monitor to get for the nMP?

R

richard371

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 1, 2008
3,764
1,954
I was planning on getting the Apple 27" display but it seems like it is overpriced and dated compared to whats out there now. Is there another 27-30" monitor that would be just as good or even better for the price? My understanding is I would want at least 60hz? I do some photography also but not a pro. I am also open to 4K if its 60hz or more and <$1K but it seems like these have not matured yet.

Also it would be a bonus if it looked nice on the desk with the nMP.
 
I use a dell u2711 which is a very good monitor but they don't make it any more. You could look at the Dell UltraSharp 27 PremierColor Monitor - U2713H which cost bout $850 but you can probably find a better price dell always has sales. They also have a few other 27" monitors that are not as good but are a little cheaper.

They also have a new low cost 4K display but I don't know how good it is?
Dell 28 Ultra HD Monitor - P2815Q. It cost about $699.

Good luck with your monitor search.
 
Dell has been kinda hit or miss with QC. Are you gaming? Otherwise 60hz is not a factor. I like my LG27EA83D but its a wide gamut, geared toward photographers and graphics professionals. Its a feature-rich wide gamut IPS monitor with 10-bit color depth that delivers accurate, robust color reproduction. It has 99% coverage of the Adobe RGB and 100% coverage of the sRGB if that is important to you.
 
Regardless of you how look at it: A computer monitor doesn't (at least shouldn't) run at 30Hz. And given that you can buy 50" 4K TVs for the same $900 with panels featuring about the same quality, I don't understand the supposed purpose of this particular display at all (except maybe for older Macs that don't support higher frequencies than 30Hz either).

If you don't want to spend more than $1000-ish and 4K, it's the 24" UltraSharp UP2414Q. It it turns out too small, get a second one later and run a dual screen setup.

However, the non-4K 30" UltraSharp U3014 is also $1000-ish. If you're looking at the current Thunderbolt Display, this one is likely what you want. You'd basically trade resolution for color accuracy and a higher frequency compared to that weird 28" 4K display, or all the ports for a diagonal that's three inches larger compared to the Thunderbolt Display - which doesn't really matter, as an nMP is stationary anyways.
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
richard371 said:
I was planning on getting the Apple 27" display but it seems like it is overpriced and dated compared to whats out there now. Is there another 27-30" monitor that would be just as good or even better for the price? My understanding is I would want at least 60hz? I do some photography also but not a pro. I am also open to 4K if its 60hz or more and <$1K but it seems like these have not matured yet.

Also it would be a bonus if it looked nice on the desk with the nMP.
Click to expand...

http://pcmonitors.info/lg/lg-34um95-219-but-bigger
 
bbishop93 said:
This has a displayPort I noticed but will that work interchangeably with thunderbolt? Because I heard with HDMI you cannot boast more than 1920x1080?
Click to expand...

yes, just use a mDP to DP cable, will work fine without resolution limits
 
viewsonic vp2770. One of the best 27 inch 2k monitor out there. I am using one right now. You need a MDP->DP cable and you also need to override some system files before you can use the monitor properly. Its not the issue of the monitor, its just the thunderbolt or mac is not really working well with non apple display.
 
howareyoukk said:
viewsonic vp2770. One of the best 27 inch 2k monitor out there. I am using one right now. You need a MDP->DP cable and you also need to override some system files before you can use the monitor properly. Its not the issue of the monitor, its just the thunderbolt or mac is not really working well with non apple display.
Click to expand...

Any more details on the reason for this please?

Also a link to step by step guide?
 
cman-uk said:
Any more details on the reason for this please?

Also a link to step by step guide?
Click to expand...

i bought the dual link adapter and it works without overriding the display files. HOWEVER, i got random signal drops. At first the monitor signal drops occurred once in few days but it gets more frequent as the time went by. I thought something wrong with my monitor, cable or laptop. It turned out nothing wrong with any of those. The problem is from apple's thunderbolt or the system itself.

After reading the info from the link below

http://www.ireckon.net/2013/03/forc...ix-the-picture-quality-of-an-external-monitor

I found out there are many people with a non apple 27 inch monitor have the same issue while they try to connect the macbook pro to their monitor---The ISSUE is that the 27 inch monitors only recognize the output signal of the macbook pro as television signal , thats why the display image was messed up.

So you just need to follow the instructions from that website i linked u, and it tells u everything u need to do from there.

Good luck :)
 
howareyoukk said:
i bought the dual link adapter and it works without overriding the display files. HOWEVER, i got random signal drops. At first the monitor signal drops occurred once in few days but it gets more frequent as the time went by. I thought something wrong with my monitor, cable or laptop. It turned out nothing wrong with any of those. The problem is from apple's thunderbolt or the system itself.

After reading the info from the link below

http://www.ireckon.net/2013/03/forc...ix-the-picture-quality-of-an-external-monitor

I found out there are many people with a non apple 27 inch monitor have the same issue while they try to connect the macbook pro to their monitor---The ISSUE is that the 27 inch monitors only recognize the output signal of the macbook pro as television signal , thats why the display image was messed up.

So you just need to follow the instructions from that website i linked u, and it tells u everything u need to do from there.

Good luck :)
Click to expand...

OSX 10.9.3 might fix this issue. I had grey scale issues with my nMP and the HP Dreamcolor until I downloaded 10.9.3
 
What about the Samsung U28D590D?
LU28D590DS-EN-21-0.jpg


Or the Asus PB287Q
asus-pb287Q-4k-monitor.jpg


Both are not as expensive as the Thunderbolt Display and even provide the new '4k' resolution.
 
^ Anything above 1440p may be overkill for now (the text must be tiny!)
howareyoukk said:
So you just need to follow the instructions from that website i linked u, and it tells u everything u need to do from there.

Good luck :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, really helpful.

Are you happy with the Viewsonic VP2770?
 
howareyoukk said:
viewsonic vp2770. One of the best 27 inch 2k monitor out there. I am using one right now. You need a MDP->DP cable and you also need to override some system files before you can use the monitor properly. Its not the issue of the monitor, its just the thunderbolt or mac is not really working well with non apple display.
Click to expand...

I came to this thread to recommend the same. I use this monitor also and purchased it from amazon a few months back for my rMBP 13". For me, it worked flawlessly out of the box. I just got a mini-displayport to displayport cable and it worked perfectly. Its 2560x1440 just like the ATD but much cheaper and as far as I can tell, just as good (except doesn't have the docking features of course). Anyway, I love it :)

Here is a link to where I got it.

I'm also running a very nice 27" 1080p monitor for a second monitor using the HDMI port. These two monitors together are a good cheap combo for less than the price of a single ACD. Here is the link for that one. Again, this second monitor is only 1080p though, so you can see some pixels since its 27" but it still looks really nice as a companion to my vp2770 mentioned above.

I'm quite happy with this setup.

Also, I do photography too and Lightroom and my photos look great on the vp2770 although I haven't calibrated it. I am not doing critical work (just a hobby) so I've never gotten an expensive fancy monitor just for photography, but I trust how my photos look on the vp2770.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back